Did You Know That Martin Luther King Jnr. Saved Star Trek? Well, You Do Now...

20th Century icon, Civil Rights leader and orator of one of the most inspirational speeches of all time: Martin Luther King Jr. was all these things and more. Well, now you can add another category to his legend as it turns out, apparently, that Dr. King was a Trekkie.

In a new US series, 'Pioneers of Television', Nichelle Nichols (who played Lt. Uhura on the Starship Enterprise) claims that she met Dr. King at a fundraiser one night and he declared to her his love of Star Trek, a conversation which persuaded her to stay on in a role she felt was stalling her career.

As reported by the LA Times, on a recent press tour for the new series Nichols told an audience that she took the role in Star Trek because, "I thought it might be a nice adjunct to my resume and I'd get to Broadway faster." Disappointed with the show, she contemplated leaving after the first season, saying "I thought it was going nowhere for me."

Read how Martin Luther King saved Star Trek after the jump...
20th Century icon, Civil Rights leader and orator of one of the most inspirational speeches of all time: Martin Luther King Jr. was all these things and more. Well, now you can add another category to his legend as it turns out, apparently, that Dr. King was a Trekkie.

In a new US series, 'Pioneers of Television', Nichelle Nichols (who played Lt. Uhura on the Starship Enterprise) claims that she met Dr. King at a fundraiser one night and he declared to her his love of Star Trek, a conversation which persuaded her to stay on in a role she felt was stalling her career.

As reported by the LA Times, on a recent press tour for the new series Nichols told an audience that she took the role in Star Trek because, "I thought it might be a nice adjunct to my resume and I'd get to Broadway faster." Disappointed with the show, she contemplated leaving after the first season, saying "I thought it was going nowhere for me."

However, her mind was soon changed after a meeting with Dr. King who introduced himself as her "biggest fan". He claimed that Star Trek was the only show that he and his family watched because, while African-Americans were still being denied rights, according to Nichols "there I was playing an astronaut of the 23rd century."

When the actress admitted that she was thinking of leaving the show, King talked her out of it: "He said what Gene Roddenberry had done was to establish who we were in the 23rd century. [King said] 'You are part of history, and it's your responsibility, even though it wasn't your career choice.'"